Adnan Ahmed: Pakistan can pull off a surprise at SAFF Championship

The former Manchester United academy graduate backs his side to put in top performances in Nepal...

Adnan Ahmed believes that his team can pull off a surprise in the upcoming SAFF Championship in Nepal where they have been grouped alongside Nepal, India and Bangladesh.

He backed the technical expertise of newly appointed coach Mohamed Shamlan to improve Pakistan’s rather dismal record at SAFF Championship where they haven’t progressed past the group stages since the 2005 edition which they hosted.

“I joined the team a couple of days ago and we are working on our formation at the moment.

“Winning the championship will be a difficult task but with the new coach, new ideas and strategies, you never know. It’s a good thing because every player wants to impress the new coach and that will bring the best out of them. It’ll improve us as a team. Hopefully we can pull off some surprise performances in the championship,” the 29-year old told The Express Tribune.

Serbian coach Zavisa Milosavljevic was given the pink slip following the team’s disastrous 3-0 defeat at the hands of Afghanistan. Ahmed explained the change in strategy with the arrival of a new coach.

“Compared to Zavisa Milosavljevic, Shamlan will be a different coach. Our previous coach wanted us to go into attack immediately, while Shamlan wants us to play smart with more passes in the midfield. It’s up to us to perform well now; a coach can only do so much.”

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